Land-based aquaculture company Andfjord Salmon Group AS has reported the completion of pool K1 and solid biological conditions in pool K0 following a recent smolt release – resulting in a minimal number of mortalities and strong growth after nearly three weeks in the pool.
On 30 September 2025, Andfjord Salmon released approximately 350,000 smolt, at an average weight of around 180 grams, into pool K0. The company has so far recorded 95 mortalities which is equivalent to a survival rate of 99.97%. It said the fish display good external health, with minimal occurrence of visible wounds or injuries, and that the smolt’s average weight has grown by approximately 45% since release, indicating biological performance above expectations.
“The smolt release in K0 and the subsequent period has gone better than we dared to hope for. The fish logistics system worked perfectly during the smolt release, and we hardly lost any fish. The smolt has demonstrated a healthy appetite from day one and are growing faster than expected. This is a great start, but there is a lot of hard work to be done over the coming months before we can celebrate,” Andfjord Salmon CEO Martin Rasmussen said.
The Norwegian salmon producer has also completed pool K1, which is the first newbuild pool of the ongoing build-out phase at Kvalnes, Andøya. It has been filled with seawater and will undergo extensive testing and preparations prior to the planned release of approximately 750,000 smolt in early November.
“The smolt release in K0 was hugely successful and we are aiming to replicate this as much as possible when we release smolt into K1,” Rasmussen said.
Since its previous production cycle that ended in June 2023, Andfjord Salmon has been developing new pools, a harbour area, and waterways that can handle large-scale production at Kvalnes. The site infrastructure is designed to support future production of approximately 48,100 tonnes (HOG + post-smolt) at Kvalnes.
